Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Pavlyuchenko : Elected as Regional Council in Stavropol

Congratulations are due to Spurs’ Russian striker Roman Pavlyuchenko, who’s been elected to the regional council in his home town of Stavropol. Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party won 63% of the vote with Pavlyuchenko on the ticket and so now the big forward is officially a deputy.

Pretty impressive for someone who has no apparent interest in politics and lives about 2,000 miles away in North London.

One football commentator in Russia was less than impressed with Pavlyuchenko’s electoral victory: Anton Lisin, a football commentator with Sovietsky Sport, said: “He’s not from Moscow. He’s a village guy. The only reason Pavlyuchenko might be interested in politics is if the international financial crisis affected his wages.”

Think it’s safe to say that Pavlyuchenko was on the ticket mostly for name recognition after his impressive Euro 2008 performance. Which ironically enough is a bit like why Spurs signed him too. Seems a few goals in a major tournament can take you a long way in life.